Exhaustion
by Phoenixfyretail
Summary: Balthazar collapses, exhausted, after not sleeping for 72 hours. Dave just manages to catch him, and lets him rest. Balthazar x Dave (Sort of, if you squint it's there.)


After many tiring hours of magical training, in which Dave shouted angrily at Balthazar as the man walked around whilst reading while performing spells that he expected Dave to be able to randomly block, Dave was walking back to his apartment. It was dark out, and well past eleven at night, totally bed time after a snack of some kind. He wondered if he still had some pizza from last night left over.

Balthazar was following him, the heavy swish of the leather of his coat moving with the click of his old man shoes. Dave glanced over one shoulder at his master, and Balthazar met his eyes, blond hair hanging shaggily in his face as his tired blue orbs looked up.

"Y-You alright, Balthazar?" The man looked deathly tired, the dark circles making him look almost like a panda. The older sorcerer stopped next to Dave in front of his apartment building, and gave a hefty nod, pushing the door open with a many ringed hand. Dave, raising a confused eyebrow, followed him hesitantly, flicking his hood down as he entered the building.

After riding up in the rickety old elevator to the top floor where Dave's apartment was, Balthazar started to sway on his feet, hand coming out to catch himself on the wall as he stumbled. Dave stopped in the middle of unlocking his door, staring in surprise as the sorcerer started to collapse. He dropped his keys and dove to catch him, letting out a deep grunt as the surprisingly hefty weight of Balthazar dropped on him.

"Geez… couldn't just say, hey, I'm tired. I need to sleep like two days ago, could you?" He grumbled as he managed to heave the unconscious body of his master off of the grubby and threadbare carpet that was the hallway floor. After half supporting Balthazar on his shoulder, half propping him on the wall, he managed to unlock his door and stumble in, dragging the older man in behind him.

He slipped his old man shoes off by the door, threw his keys on the table, and somehow got Balthazar into his room, where he got the man onto his unmade bed. Dave pulled his trench coat off, letting out another grunt in shock at the weight of it.

"Why does everything to do with sorcery either have to be really big and scary or freaking heavy?" He asked sarcastically as he laid the coat over his dresser, somehow miraculously returned after Balthazar summoned it down to the empire state building. Dave got Balthazar's old man shoes off, settling them by the foot of the bed, and tucked the exhausted sorcerer under his quilt, settling his head on his pillow.

"Night old man." He murmured, but didn't leave quite yet. His dark brown eyes took in the lines of Balthazar's face, the stubble along his jaw, the slightly hawk like nose, and the lines of his heavy eyebrows. The man had surprisingly long eyelashes, and his eyes were closed gently, his face in complete peace for once.

A lock of stray blond hair laid over his nose, and Dave didn't know what prompted him to do so, but his fingers deftly flicked the strand out of the man's face, smoothing it back. His fingertips danced through the surprisingly soft hair, and he found himself sitting down next to the sleeping sorcerer, finger tips trailing over his hair, down his shoulder, and stopping on his ring before touching to his forehead. Without thinking, he leaned down a pressed a gentle kiss to the man's forehead, and as he pulled back, he breathed in.

Balthazar smelled amazingly good. Something like musky male, peppermint, and the faint scent of water from being out in the rain so much. And like musty books, paper, parchment, and magic. Magic had a scent that words can't describe, but Dave liked it a lot.

He froze upon realizing what he had just done. What the hell was he doing? The man was nearly 1300 years old, and here he was petting him while he slept. And smelling him. And he had **KISSED** him. Not cool Dave, not cool.

After leaving quickly with his pajamas that he scooped off the floor, Dave shut the door behind him and sighed. Well, that was awkward. What he hadn't seen though, was that Balthazar had opened one eye, touched a hand to his forehead, and a soft smile touched his lips before he softly drifted back to sleep in Dave's surprisingly cozy bed. It smelled like the boy; soap, vaguely minty, water, and something naturally male. It was a good scent, and he sighed in contentment as he fell back asleep.

A lot of mentally face-palming, a snack of leftover pizza, some searching for spare pillows and blankets, pajamas, and teeth brushing later, Dave was settled on the floor to sleep. Which he didn't. Like at all. You see, floors are hard and uncomfortable, and his bed was occupied by none other than his master, who he was sure would not take too kindly to Dave jumping into bed with him. Not that he wanted to. At all.

He sighed and rolled over. Looks like it was going to be a long night.

The next Day::::::

"My back hurts and I'm tired." Dave grumbled as he focused on forming a plasma ball and containing it for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

"Not my fault you slept on the floor, Dave." Came Balthazar's almost bored voice from the stone steps, where he was sitting with a cup of tea and the encantus across his lap. Dave pinned him with a look of comical death, but he was relieved to see that the man looked a lot better after sleeping solidly through the night.

"Well **Somebody** stole my bed last night, not that I'm gonna say who." He glared at Balthazar, who innocently drank his tea with a many ringed hand, not looking up from the passage he was reading. He didn't even seem to realize the fact that Dave was talking to him. He flipped a page, flicking the sleeve of his woolen shirt away from his palm as he did so.

"You could've joined me Dave, it is your bed." Dave spluttered in shock, the plasma ball that he was containing flying away and destroying something as he stood there slack jawed and making inarticulate noises at Balthazar, who **Still had his nose in his book.** He was more than aware that he was blushing like an idiot, and he made a noise of exasperation while throwing his arms up and walking away, shaking his head.

Balthazar looked up and sipped his tea, grinning widely the whole while. No way was he going to tell Dave that he had been awake while he had kissed his forehead last night.


End file.
